KMT chides Ting over `negative' ad

FAMILIAR STORY Ting Shou-chung became the second of the KMT's Taipei mayoral hopefuls to be censured for attacking Hau Lung-bin

By Mo Yan-chih / STAFF REPORTER

Following in the footsteps of his former rival in the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Taipei mayoral primary, Yeh Chin-chuan (葉金川), Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) yesterday drew a written reprimand from the party for publishing campaign advertisements questioning rival Hau Lung-bin's (郝龍斌) political loyalties.

Ting's campaign team published two print ads in the Chinese-language United Evening News on Tuesday and yesterday, questioning Hau's political loyalty for having worked for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as a former Environmental Protection Administration chief and campaigning for Council of Labor Affairs Chairman Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) when he was running against KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as the DPP's Taipei mayoral candidate in 2004.

Ting's campaign ads were reminiscent of those placed previously by Yeh, who withdrew from the KMT primary two weeks ago after receiving a written reprimand.

The KMT's Taipei city branch issued a statement saying that Ting had also received a written reprimand for "negative campaigning." The statement urged candidates not to attack their rivals.

"The contents of [Ting's] ads clearly go against the spirt of the KMT primary ... We ask all candidates to compete fairly, rather than attacking party members with negative campaigns," the statement said.

Ting declined to comment on the KMT's decision, but told the Taipei Times he was unlikely to withdraw from the primary as Yeh had done before him.

"I need some time to think over the issue before making any comments or decisions," he said.

Earlier in the afternoon, Ting defended the ads when attending a municipal event.

"The ads questioned Hau in the public domain ... Any political figure should expect to be confronted with what they have done in the past because every footstep leaves a trace," Ting said.

Hau, who has declined to respond to any of the accusations made by either Yeh or Ting, yesterday attributed the attacks to the fact that he enjoyed a high level of support.

"It could be because I'm doing much better in the polls than Ting is," Hau said.

The two rivals later shook hands during the event, with Ting again defending the legitimacy of his campaign.

The KMT has responded rather less strongly to this incident than it did to Yeh's campaign ads.

KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) declined to comment on the matter, but reiterated that the party should hold a fair primary.